I’m knee deep in work at the moment, mired in a really deep groove. I use the word mired but it’s meant to have a good meaning here. It’s one of those grooves that I hope for, where everything seems to click right off the brush and there’s a rush of excitement as one piece nears completion and the next is already beckoning. The funny thing is that it’s not a manic groove even though I may sound manic in describing it. It’s calm and cool, a sense of clarity with all the fogs of uncertainty blown away. It’s a feeling, a rhythm, that I know and lay in wait for, often for long frustrating periods. But I know that if I struggle forward, it eventually comes. I don’t think I will ever succeed in describing this groove, this rhythm. probably because when I’m mired in it I struggle to write about painting, am lax in communicating anything for fear of upsetting this delicate rhythm. So I will stop here.
Here’s a song, one of my favorites, Killing the Blues. Written by Rowland Salley, I first came across this song many years ago when John Prine did his remarkable cover of it. Since then I have discovered that it has become a standard of sorts, covered by numbers of musicians. Last year, I featured a haunting version here from Allison Krauss and Robert Plant. I found this version from Malcolm Holcolme that I really like. See if you agree.
Redtree Times 
Thank you for sharing. Do you listen to music when you paint or do you paint in silence?
I listen to a wide variety of music and I also enjoy having old movies on that are heavy on dialogue so I can listen more than watch. Movies from the 30’s and 40’s are best in this respect. But silence is sometimes nice, as well, depending on what I’m working on at the time. Thanks, John.
Shawn Colvin does a great cover of this song.
Yes, she does. I don’t know that I’ve heard a truly bad version of this song.